South Parkhas taken an interesting direction in the past few years. CreatorsTrey ParkerandMatt Stonehave effectively moved into semi-serialized storytelling, and they basically released a newSouth Parkmovie with the video gameSouth Park: The Stick of Truth. Earlier this week,we got a trailerfor their newest gameSouth Park: The Fractured But Whole, and the duo talked toEWabout the genesis of the project and what it might mean for the future of the TV series.
When it came to the genesis ofThe Fracture But Whole, it naturally came about from the most immature desire possible:
TREY PARKER: If we did a game, what would it be? We have all this superhero sh–. It could be the next day.” If we did it, what would it be? What would we call it? We came up with the titleThe Fractured But Whole. And we were like: “That’s such a sweet title, dude. We’ve gotta make this game. For nothing else than that we could walk around E3 and seeThe Fractured But Wholein huge flashing letters. Millions of dollars inThe Fractured But Whole.
But while the title might be a joke, they’re not fooling around with making a superior sequel. Speaking about upgrading the series:
MATT STONE: The thing that needed to be updated was the combat. It was pretty simple turn-based on the last game. So there’s a whole new combat system that’s gonna be pretty fun. There’s a lot of ways to use it, instead of just two-on-two facing each other. It still looks like you’re in an episode ofSouth Park. Sometimes you don’t need a whole lot of technical stuff. It can just be a menu joke. When you die, it should be funny. When you get hurt, it should be funny.
They also revealed that this time around you may play as a girl, and that playing as a girl will affect the interactions.
STONE: But the boys are little boys, because it’s really a story about little boys running around. So they don’t care about [your character being a girl]? That seems weird. They always seemed to care about it in the show. Are they dumb about it, and they don’t know? So you’re in hiding? Or do theytotallycare about that, andtotallytreat you differently? So we ended up doing those things differently for different characters.
Stone and Parker also said they were considering making a newSouth Parkmovie, and decided to doFracturedinstead.
Additionally, when it comes to the TV show, don’t expect the semi-serialized storylines to disappear anytime soon:
STONE: To follow storylines through? We couldn’t do that when we started. We were from a different era of TV, when you had to do the sitcom-style reset every week. That’s why a lot of shows – you see it inThe Simpsonsand us, too – they have dumbest last one minute of a show, because we have to go back to normal for next week. We don’t have to do that anymore.
PARKER: It is nice to realize you don’t have to tie up everything.
Parker also said that video games might be where the future of theSouth Parkfranchise is headed. Stone added:
I think in 20 years, 10 years, people will be playing more. That convergence of entertainment, whether it’s VR or a more immersive thing. The more you get in it, the more you watch Pew Die Pie, and people watch Pew Die Pie play, and you watch E-sports. You watch young people, and the way they engage with something – sh–, maybe thatisthe future ofSouth Park.
South Parkreturns for its 20th season this fall.South Park: The Fractured But Wholehits PS4, Xbox One, and PC on December 6th.
